Apparatus for steeping and germinating malt



(No Model.)

B. W. VOIGT. APPARATUS FOR $TEEPING AND GERMINATING MALT. No. 245,754.; Patented Aug. 16,1881;

N. PETERS. Pholoinhognuvhcn Washmgmu. D. c.

UNITED STATES PATENT ()FFICE.

EDi/VARD W. VOIGT, OF DETROIT, MICHIGAN.

APPARATUS FOR STEEPING AND GERMINATING MALT.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent N 0. 245,754. dated August 16, 1881.

' Application filed April 8, 1881. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, EDWARD W. VOIGT, of the city of Detroit, Wayne county, and State of Michigan, have invented an Improvement in Apparatus for Steeping and Germinating Malt, of which the following is a specification.

The nature of this invention relates to new and useful improvements in the construction or building of malt-houses, and in a process of malting by means of which a more certain and equal result is produced at a larger saving of labor than can be attained in the malthouses as at present constructed and by the system now generally in use.

The invention consists, primarily, in the peculiar construction of the malt-house, and, secondarily, in the system. of malting grain, as more fully hereinafter describedv In the accompanying drawings, which form a part of this specification, and in which a vertical cross-section of my improved m alt-house is shown, A represents the house, and B the various floors thereof, placed at suitable distances one above the other, for the successful carrying out of my improved system of malting.

G represents a tank placed upon the upper floor, designed to receive the grain to be malted, with the water for steeping the same; and in describing the construction I shall, in the same connection, describe my system for malting, by which a large amount of labor is saved over the ordinary process and a better and more even result obtained. The tank 0 is a watertight tank, into which the grain is placed with the proper amount of water for steeping it. A pipe (not shown) is attached to the bottom of this tank, through which, after the grain is properly steeped, the surplus water is drawn oft. After this tank has been thoroughly drained of water the valve or slide a in the bottom of hopper I) is opened, and through such opening the steeped grain is discharged into the germinating-hopper D upon the floor below. It will be noticed that this hopper, and each one in succession below it, is larger than the one above it, in order to, during the various stages, allow the grain to spread more,

thereby presenting a larger surface to the action of the air in the room where the hopper is situated, and to provide for the swelling of the grain. This hopper D is provided with two bottoms, c and d, the former being of finelyperforated metallic plates, while the bottom one is imperforate and made of any suitable material. The air-pipe 6 leads from the space between the bottoms c (I, (which space should be from one to two inches deep,) and is connected with an exhaust-pump or other device, E, by means of which the air in the chamber, wherever the grain maybe, maybe drawn down through the grain, for the purpose, in various stages of malting, of facilitating the germinating process or arresting such germination at its proper stage.

A succession of hoppers like D, the one described, are similarly connected by air-pipes with the air-exhauster, only differing from that above it in an increase in size. It the air in the rooms in which are situated any of the upper hoppers is so dry that when drawn through the grain and out of the bottom of such hopper it would have a tendency to arrest germination, open steam from any suitable source of supply may be admitted into the room to give the required moisture to the air to facilitate the process of germination. As the grain passes from one hopper to the one immediately below it it is exposed to the air, whereby any tendency to undue heating of the grain is arrested without the expense and labor, as in ordinary malt-houses, of handling and turning over in order to expose the grain to the air. In its downward passage through these successive hoppers the grain should be examined from time to time, and when the process of germination has been carried sufiiciently far steps should be taken, in discharging it into the next hopper below, to arrest such germination.

If the air in the latter-named hopper and room in which it is situated is not sufficiently dry, it should be dried by close steam or in any other suitable way, so that when drawn through the hopper by the exhaust and its connection the process of germination can be arrested at will.

Each one of the hoppers D is provided with a slide or valve, it, through which the grain is drawn to the hopper below.

For the purpose of moistening the air in any of the rooms required, if preferred, a spray of fore I do not broadly claim either of these inventions.

What I claim as my invention is- In a malt-house provided with a series of separate successive floors, a steeping-tank and.

a series of successively-en]arged hoppers arranged on said floor, the steeping-tank and each of the hoppers being provided with a dis charge-valve for emptying its contents into the hopper below, in combination with pipes connected separately with each of the hoppers and with an air-exhausting device, substantially as and for the purpose specified.

EDWARD W. VOIGT. Witnesses H. S. SPRAGUE, CHARLES J .1 HUNT. 

